By Anna Felice, Grace Maguire, Alice Hartshorn and Nina Leech

This week, Mrs O'Cleirigh’s (History and Politics Teacher) History Film Club reviewed the biographical thriller, Mr Jones.  Some of our Lower Sixth students gave a short review: 

Grace Maguire: “I found the film hugely eye-opening to the severe poverty and hardship the people of Ukraine went through under Stalin’s rule. It was particularly interesting to learn that people from the West, from ambassadors to people working in the Foreign Department, knew this deprivation existed, but didn’t do anything about it. While I haven’t learnt much about Russia under Stalin, already I know he was a ruler who didn’t care for the peasantry, and that he created a hierarchy where one shouldn’t have existed.”

Alice Hartshorn: “I found the film very helpful in being able to picture the conditions under which the people of Ukraine had to live through under Stalin’s rule more clearly. The film enabled me to have further knowledge of the hardships which people faced during the food shortages, and the methods used to try and deal with this. I also found it very useful to see a portrayal of the perspective of someone from Britain, who was unaware of the famine, because it showed the genuine surprise of the people living in Western Europe who were unaware of the terrible living conditions.”

Anna Felice: “Watching Mr Jones with other history students was very useful in supplementing what we had learnt in class. I found it both interesting and entertaining to further my understanding of post-revolution Russia through engaging with the film. The portrayal of Stalin’s policies through the lens of the civilians it affected, provided an eye-opening experience into the conditions of the country at the time that couldn’t be gained through just reading text. The film itself was well-paced with interesting characters and portrayed the conditions and political environment of the soviet union in a captivating way.”

Nina Leech: “The film Mr Jones has helped my knowledge of the USSR greatly. With the visual aid of the famine in the Soviet Union along with the portrayal of Stalin’s policies, it was very helpful to see what truly happened in the Soviet Union in the years of Stalin’s reign. All students from both A-level years found the film night so helpful and entertaining, aiding our knowledge of both the period of history and treatment of journalists as well. I look forward to the next film night!”